The Messenger of Blessing
This is the manuscript of the Malachi 3:6-3:12 sermon I preached on May 25th at Trinity West Seattle in 2025.
You can watch it here or read it below.
SERMON INTRO
Today, we are going to talk about money. [PAUSE]
Stressed yet? :)
We are all fully aware that money, bills, finances, resources…those types of things…are at the heart of many of life's stresses. Money is at the heart of many hardships and tensions in our lives. It is also at the heart of abundance and thriving. Money can feel like a blessing, and money can feel like a curse.
Malachi calls out Israel for robbing God. Specifically for not giving resources to God’s house. We will explore that shortly. So when we see it highlighted in the text, I want you to be reflecting on how the text might directly address your mindset and heart behind giving.
So, if you are sitting there thinking, “Great…he’s preaching on giving.” Well…you’re right.
At Trinity, we preach through God’s Word expositionally. That means we preach to the text of the Bible and go where it leads.
When money, generosity, and resources come up, we talk about it. When giving comes up, we talk about it. When divorce or marriage comes up, we talk about it. When violence, war, gender, marriage, politics, or any number of difficult things come up in the text, we deal with it.
So you would be correct that I am going to talk about giving today because it is in the text.
However…money is the vehicle of today’s text, but blessing is the engine. And that blessing is Christ.
So yes I will talk about giving, and yes I hope you walk away pondering and acting on the ways you feel convicted by the Holy Spirit about giving…NOTE: I said convicted, not condemned…but if you walk away only thinking, “I need to give more.” Then I will have failed. My main hope today is that you walk away knowing you are blessed. You are blessed beyond anything money or resources can ever offer.
I also hope you walk away feeling free.
Free because you are already secure in Christ.
Free from the idol of material resources because there is something eternal offered to you.
Free from clutching money with a closed fist.
Free from worry that someone else will take your resources or use them unwisely. Free to obey because God’s law was perfectly obeyed already on your behalf.
Free to trust the One who gave you those resources to begin with.
I want you to walk away knowing…
We are free to be generous because we have already been blessed.
CONFLICT
How do we know we are blessed? Let’s look at the text.
6 For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
God chose the people of Jacob, Israel, to be his people. Jacob represents the people to whom God gave his covenant. Esau represented those outside of the covenant.
So this verse is wonderful news! God leads with an encouraging reminder right here at the beginning of this passage that THEY. ARE. HIS. His children. He has them. He will take care of them. The same is true for us if we are in Christ.
There’s more here. Not only are they God’s Children, the Lord does not change. He is faithful, even when they are not. They are not consumed like others nations because of their rejection of God.
He goes on to say: 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
These are important verses because God reminds them that he is constant, but they have turned aside.
In each of those previous parts of Malachi, God wants Israel’s heart. Their hearts have rejected him in various ways. He wants them to return to Him. This section is no different.
But God is continually reminding them that if you show up in these areas, you will find that I am there! I never left!
They deserve to be consumed by God’s wrath because of their rejection. But God kept pursuing them.
God doesn’t change. His covenant he made all those generations ago with Abraham is still in effect. He is faithful. He is their security. Their protector. They actually respond with curiosity here, “How can we return?”
God answers them, but it is good that God reminded them, and ultimately us, of his constancy here in this fifth dispute before he answers how they can return…because he is about to address one of the most challenging topics. The topic of resources. The topic of money.
COMPLICATION
But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me.
But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’
In your tithes and contributions.
God reveals that they have robbed him by not tithing.
So what is tithing?
If you don’t know what a tithe is, earlier in the Old Testament in places like Leviticus 27, Numbers 18, and Deuteronomy 14 the tithe is discussed as part of God’s Law that he gave to Moses.
A tithe is giving one-tenth of your first fruits to God’s house, one-tenth of your income. In our day, our resources primarily refer to our money, then their “money” or “wealth” would primarily refer to their harvests and the herds.
The tithe is also re-emphasized in Nehemiah 10 after the rebuilding of the temple following the Israelites return from exile (our current timeline in Malachi).
That one tenth goes to the Lord’s house, to express their trust in the Lord.
The tithe was also for the Levites who are the priests. This gift was to help the house of the Lord exist and thrive. The Levites were required to dedicate their lives to the synagogues and the law. They were supposed to be learning and pointing people toward God, fulfilling their priestly duties. They were supposed to be working for the good of their people and the city. Primarily, the people were also supposed to be giving to the Lord’s house so that God’s house would not be neglected. The Israelites even promised not to neglect the Lord’s house (Neh 10:39)!
Think about it in this way…If the people don’t tithe, what does that reveal about what they believe about their God?
Furthermore, if they don’t tithe, the priests and their families don’t eat. If the priests can’t feed their families, they have to find work elsewhere. If they aren’t there, the daily, weekly operations of the synagogue cease. The house of the Lord would be vacant…If the house of the Lord is vacant every day the synagogue has no footprint or existence in the community. The house of the Lord ceases to have presence among the people.
Maybe you are like…”That’s a stretch. Aren’t you exaggerating a bit here?”
Actually, this EXACT scenario happened in Nehemiah 13.
As part of Nehemiah’s final reforms for Israel and the Second Temple, Nehemiah went to the temple…empty.
Nehemiah 13:11 So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?”
No portions, and no Levites, no singers…just…empty… The same thing is happening in our text today. Take a look.
8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me.
But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’
In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
There is no food in the Lord’s house. They have robbed him by not giving back even a portion of what he has already provided for them. The people have failed to give to the Lord. They weren’t tithing. His house was empty.
But another important thing to notice here is the communal nature of God’s correction. And this is countercultural for us in the United States. Look at the end of verse 9, “for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.”
If the storehouses of the Lord’s house were depleted, the whole nation was at fault. Generosity was to be a visible value of God’s people. If his people are not generous, how does that reflect on them and the God they worship?
However, I want to dig in here for a minute. We have talked alot about giving and tithing. About empty storehouses.
I have done a lot of explaining background stuff and exposing what is going on practically. I want to spend some time digging into the why.
Why aren’t the Israelites giving?
Maybe you will find some ideas here about why you might struggle with giving…
First off, if you look back into verse 9, You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Some scholars believe that the Israelites had fallen into agricultural troubles. Their crops were not as plentiful as they had hoped. Maybe they aren’t giving because they feel like they don’t have enough.
Some other reasons they might struggle to give become clear as we look back in Malachi. Consider the love and faithfulness topics we have discussed in previous weeks. Maybe they aren’t giving because they have forgotten (or don’t feel) God’s love and faithfulness.
Think back to the horrible offerings they were giving. The priests were allowing these garbage sacrifices and offerings in the temple. Maybe they weren’t willing to give because the priests, their own leaders, were stewarding resources poorly.
Even if hardship was happening, God still asked them to tithe.
Even if they didn’t feel God’s love, God still asked them to tithe.
Even if they couldn’t remember God’s faithfulness, God asked them to tithe.
Even if the priests were doing a bad job, God still asks them to tithe.
Why? Because He is their father, and they are his children, have already been blessed and a future blessing is promised.
Their giving has nothing to do with their circumstances, and has everything to do with their hearts.
In each of those things, what are they looking to for blessing? They want control of their own lives and finances so they can feel safe. They are trusting their own efforts and resources, rather than the God who provides all things.
Something I say regularly is that Money is never really about money, money is about trust. What we do or don’t do with our finances reveals where we place our trust. When we give, we are choosing to trust God.
Israel views their resources as their blessing and they are holding onto it with a closed fist! They don’t trust God. They don’t trust the blessings God has given them and don’t trust the future blessing promised. Do we do the same?
SUDDEN SHIFT
Let's look at the blessing I am talking about.
10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.
We are going to get to the blessing part, but first, I want to share a story about generosity.
When I was first dating my wife Whitney I actually wrestled with some of those same things that the Israelites did. Prior to marrying her, my giving was sporadic and non-existent. I had so many reasons.
Things like: The church already had enough. I have bills to pay. They probably won’t use the money the way I would. I need to support my hobbies.
Juxtaposed that with my wife, who was so generous with her money it made me nauseous. How could she just give away everything! She’s not only giving, I felt like she was giving too much! We needed money to live and do the things we wanted to do!
She gave me an ultimatum of sorts. If we were to get married, giving would be a central part of our lives. So I started giving.
Clever me, or so I thought, knew that giving was mandated in the New Testament, but that 10% number (tithing) wasn’t mandated by the New Testament, and only the Old Testament. So I gave a little. I reluctantly obeyed God’s mandate to give.
Over time, God changed me. I became a cheerful giver instead of a reluctant one. I started to give more and more. Whitney and I always had enough. It wasn’t always easy, far from it. But God was there each time. God met our needs. He showed up over and over and over again.
I started to see how my church was impacting the community around it. I was participating in the good news of Christ reaching people practically and spiritually where I lived. I started to see that he was the blessing, not my money.
This is not a prosperity gospel thing. It is a relationship with God thing. I am not saying, “If God asks you to give, and you give $10, you’ll get back $100!!!” If that were true, the church would be the best mutual fund you could invest in! :)
What I am saying is, “If God asks you to give $10 and you give $10….you’re down $10. But you are also being obedient to God and he will bless you.” If you don’t believe me, then test God with your giving! He is faithful. That blessing will come, but better yet…that blessing has already come!
God is the blessing, so blessing is always found on the other side of faith and obedience.
Think about it.
When you step into your marriage or relationship and do what God wants you to do, does He take care of you or not?
When you step into your business or your job and do what God wants you to do, does He take care of you or not?
When you step into your finances and do what God wants you to do, does He take care of you or not?
I know there are people today that are feeling like God isn’t blessing them. And sometimes when we follow Jesus, it feels insanely hard. Sometimes it calls for extraordinary sacrifice or patience. But it is always better to be walking with God, than doing our own thing. Always.
I want to remind us that the truth is that God has blessed us. He is faithful.
The lie is that He’s left, and He won’t take care of us.
We aren’t generous to get something in return, we give because we have already been blessed. We give as an expression of the deep trust we have in the most generous God. Our generosity is a reflection of our heart! We are free to be generous because we have already been blessed. Look at the text again!
GOOD NEWS
10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts
God wants our generosity so badly that he says, “Put me to the test.” This should give us pause!
This is the only place in the bible that God explicitly tells us to put him to the test. In many other places it clearly tells us not to test the Lord. So why does he say to test him here?
Well let’s think about what happens when we do give and when we are generous to God’s house.
If we do give to God’s house, the pastors, staff, and their families are cared for. The daily, weekly operations and ministries of the church continue. People have a place to congregate. Pastoral counseling, edler vision casting, so many daily tasks can be done. Investment in the future of the congregation. If the house of the Lord has a footprint and a physical existence in the community. The house of the Lord has a presence in the city.
That presence means people can come and we can organize to go out to the people too. Because God’s economy is never about money, money is only a tool. God’s economy, the way his kingdom grows is from person, to person, to person. His vision for the world is to bring as many people to himself as possible.
When you give to the church, you are giving to that end. So that people may know his name, not only in word but in deed too. But we too are changed.
This is why God says “test me.” He wants us to trust him. Fully. With everything.
He wants people reached, and giving makes that possible. He wants people reached, and in this physical world it requires the physical presence of the church. We so quickly hold onto our resources because we want our own end or our own needs. But when we choose to trust God even in our finances, he shows up. Often in surprising ways. When we buy into his vision with all that we are, not just with money but with EVERYTHING that we are, he shows up. He will make his name known.
We are free to be generous because we have already been blessed.
UNFOLDING
The blessing here is bigger than physical needs being met, it is that eternal needs will be met. God
if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.
We see here in the text that needs will be met, the pests devouring the crops will be pushed back, the vines will flourish. The work of our hands will not come back void. The curse of toiling in the thorns and thistles will. Not. win. God will.
How do we know this? Well when God opened the heavens, he sent himself down!
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9
The blessing he poured down was the blessing of his blood poured out on the cross. He rebuked death and defeated it. The fruits of his soil are people, people who know His name and follow him. His name will be known. He will accomplish his goal of drawing all people to himself. That is what generosity accomplishes. And it gets even better!
12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts
God will work in our work and in our generosity to the extent that others will know him! When we give and are generous, outsiders will see it and call us blessed! Our generosity causes us to be a delight to the world.
We get to share these gifts God has given us! Part of the beauty of the gospel is that we are free to give, not we have to give. We get to give because of the security and blessing we have in Christ. God will provide.
And when we give, we get to participate in the healing of the world! One life at a time, one church at a time. And it’s not your financial success that gets to change the world. It’s the power of God working through you, because he has given us those skills, talents, positions, and resources anyway.
I want to close with a story.
[A member] walked in this week while I was working on the sermon. A divine interruption. I was a bit stuck. Trying to figure out how to word some of these ideas. Trying to discern the best and most accurate way to communicate these things.
He encouraged me simply by reminding me that when we open our hands when it comes to money and we are generous, it is simply saying, “I choose to trust you God.”
Go to the end of where you are comfortable, and take a step. That is the trust. If giving is really about trust. Take a step and see. He will be there. Then take another. And then another. One day you will look back and your trust in God will have grown.
We are free to be generous because we have already been blessed.
[Prayer from Trinity Member]
Lord, free me from the grip of scarcity.
Teach me to give not from excess, but from trust.
Let joy, not pressure, lead me.
Shape my heart by your grace,
that I might excel in the gift of generosity,
as I grow in faith, love, and surrender.
COMMUNITY GROUP INSTRUCTIONS
When you think about money and material resources, what emotions come up first? Maybe peace, anxiety, control, fear, gratitude? Why do you think that is? What would it look like to bring God into those emotions?
Think back over your life. Can you remember a time when God provided for you, or blessed you, in an unexpected way? How did that experience shape your view of generosity and trust?
Dream for a little bit. How might Trinity’s collective generosity impact its witness in our surrounding community here in West Seattle?
